Individual Essay on Social Determinant of Health

Running head: Individual Essay on Social Determinant of Health
Individual Essay on Social Determinant of Health
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Individual Essay on Social Determinant of Health
1
According to the World Health Organisation (2019), Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) aims at the immune system; thus, weakening the defence system against infections and
cancers. The virus is responsible for impairing the ability of immune cells to act, making the
people immune-deficient. AIDS is defined as the progress of infectious disease, tumour and
other clinical outcomes. The transmission of HIV/AIDS among men having sex with men
(MSM) is through sexual practice. The aim of the essay is to understand the difference in the
influence of two social determinants of health, gender, stigma and distinction of HIV among
MSM in Australia and South Africa.
According to the study conducted by Kutner, Nelson, Simoni, Sauceda and Wiebe
(2017), MSM that had protection-less sex with a serodiscordant mate were conveyed to have
transmitted HIV as a result of which the possibility of anxiety, stress and other worse health
outcomes were detected. The early record of HIV contamination in South Africa was in the
1980s, where different HIV-1 was identified among this specific group. However, due to
ignorance of the vulnerable group by the government, the estimation of the MSM population
suffering from AIDS does not exist. It was found that 13.2% of MSM and 33.9% of gay men
were HIV positive in the Africa areas (Sandfort, Knox, Collier, Lane and Reddy, 2015). In
2014, approximately 1.4 million MSMs between the age ranges of 15 to 49 years were
affected. According to Cheung et al., (2016), the percentage of people who have HIV in
Australia is increasing, and most important risk for HIV is a receptive and unprotected sexual
relationship that included ejaculation with their normal partners. Approximately 27545
people are affected by HIV and 89% can be contributed due to male-to-male sexual in 2017
(Afao.org.au, 2017).
Gender has been recognised as one of the most critical determinants of health as there
are various factors that negatively influence the accessibility of health services and there is a
varied response of health system to different types of vulnerable groups. The two dimensions

Individual Essay on Social Determinant of Health
2
that were responsible for recognising gender, as important health determinant was gender
inequality and addressing the norms and role of gender in gaining a better consideration of
social construction with respect to identity. According to Quinn et al., (2018), gender is stated
to have expectations and roles credited in case of both men and women in the community
over the different phases of life. Gender is considered as a social construct rather than
biological and varies from time, values and norms in the society. Maleke et al., (2017) opined
that despite technological and medical advancement, HIV/AIDS had been a crucial public
health issue in South Africa. It has a disproportionate impact on socially vulnerable groups,
especially MSM. The occupational and behavioural roles were restricted in term of social
norms had delineated the association of health and gender in South Africa (Daniels et al.,
2017). In this particular case, the impact of gender is stated to be an intricate aspect that
involves autonomy, poverty, power or authority and marginalisation across different culture
and societies, thus, increase the chance of acquiring HIV. In the case of Australia, the
vulnerable group is more acceptable and recognised as compared to South Africa, a result of
which, the rate of AIDS-affected people is more accurate in nature (Jobson et al., 2018). The
health outcomes of MSM in Australia were more effective because of positive socioeconomic
factors that promoted early identification and prognosis of the disease. Therefore, gender is
not a basic factor in this case, as men having sex with men, as the consequence of gender in
the society at each level is found to be less tangible in nature.
The second social determinant of health concerning HIV that can have an influence
on MSM in both Australia and South Africa is particular in term of stigma and
discrimination. As per the opinion of Hatzenbuehler, Phelan and Link (2013), specific
stigmatised status have been developed in a specific domain. Stigma is associated with
various kind of diseases such as mental illness, sexual preference and development of AIDS
that is subjected to discrimination and thus, is a cause of stress in the specific vulnerable